“I don’t like pistachio!” Strange, right? Believe it or not these words came out of my mouth when I was a young child in Sicily. I remember trying a pistachio gelato, in one of those typically small local places by the beach. I was attracted by the color, a brilliant green, that seemed to shine fluorescently in the display case. I am not sure what was I expecting, but I was so disappointed by the flavor that I promised myself to never try it again.

Years later I came across another gelateria in a small beach town in Sicily, walked in, and noticed an interesting sign that read “Pistacchio di Bronte”. Inside I saw a muted dark green gelato. Its appearance gave me the impression that someone may have mixed some chocolate into the gelato . I asked the person behind the counter what flavor it was supposed to be, declaring ” I didn’t like pistachio” and he simply, but confidently said: “try it” while handing me a small tasting spoon. That was the day pistachio from Bronte became my favorite gelato flavor! In fact, pistachios imported from Bronte are the only pistachio we use at L’Arte and the number one reason our pistachio product production is limited, high quality and tasty.

The pistachio tree is not native to Italy but instead comes from parts of Central Asia, primarily Iran and Afghanistan. It was the Arabs who introduced this exquisite Middle Eastern plant into the fertile, lava-rich Sicilian soil in the 9th century. Today, the noble pistachio is harvested on an industrial scale in many countries like the United States, Turkey, and Greece! It’s fascinating to think about the number people in the world who grow, use and consume pistachios. In 2023 it was estimated that the worldwide harvest was over 747 thousand metric tons.

Yet it is in Bronte, a very small town at the base of Mount Etna, that pistachios are grown miraculously better, hand picked once every two years, with a particularly dark or emerald green color. Universally recognized by epicures, food critics and experts as the best and most precious variety of pistachios in the world, Given its unique characteristics, nutritional and organoleptic properties, and unique and unmistakable taste and aroma, in 2009 the Bronte pistachio obtained the DOP mark from the European Union establishing, first of all, the cultivation area of the plants, which must take place in the municipalities of Bronte, Adrano and Biancavilla, and regulating the production, harvesting and labelling techniques.

Bronte’s pistachios have a very distinctive flavor and aroma, attributed to the volcanic soil and the fresh air from the mountain. Bronte’s pistachio are incredibly adaptable with its delicate balance between sweet and savory and used locally to produce a unique gelato flavor as well as other desserts and savory meals. It’s easy-to-understand the appellation “green gold” and why this product is so rare, expensive and incredibly tasty.